When Lightning Strikes
by StormDreamCloud
Summary: Claire and Serah are left all alone after their parents' deaths. How will they cope and who will take care of them? ((My perspective of before the actual game starts.))


**When Lightning Strikes**

Mom was gone and I had to take care of Serah. She was buried next to dad, who had died as well, a long time ago. Serah and I stood at their graves long after the funeral and stared at the tombstones. Neither of us wanted to believe Mom was gone because after dad had died, she was what held us together. Afterwards, we didn't attend school for a week; we had both caught a cold from staying out late in the rain just staring at our parents' graves.

The world seemed to want to remind us of our peril pretty clearly because the night of mom's funeral, there was a thunderstorm. Serah crept into bed with me and even though I was sixteen and she was thirteen, I didn't say anything. She wanted my company on such a scary time of the night without mom and truthfully, I wanted her company too. After that, I became Lightning; just like the streak of electricity across the sky that night. It was beautiful but it destroyed; taking on that name meant I would destroy anything to protect Serah, the only family I had left.

Life without mom changed drastically for both Serah and I. Mom had received a large amount of Gil from PSICOM after Dad had died. She never touched the money and had put it away so finances were never a problem. People whispered and shook their heads at us in pity as we trudged to school each morning. The kids at school didn't make us feel any better either.

I was always the loner at school while Serah was the social butterfly. And although people continued to ignore me, I felt even lonelier. As for Serah, her large group of friends always hung around her like they were her bodyguards. But no matter how many friends Serah had, she always waited for me, her sister, to take her home. I didn't blame her; I wanted my sister to walk home with me too.

She often cried herself to sleep at night and we slept in the same bed for the sake of each other's company. Sometimes I heard her crying out for mom and dad when she was sleeping. I didn't sleep at all but I lay in bed so Serah knew I was there if she woke up during the night. Mom and dad were gone and all we had were each other.

After a while, we adjusted to the lifestyle we were handed. I discovered I was a terrible cook so Serah took over the meals while I cleaned the house. Serah confided in me that she didn't like to have the amount of friends she had at school and that they were annoying. So she managed to shake them off and soon made genuine friends. We had to take care of ourselves and each other because we had no one else.

Two years later, I graduated from high school as an honor roll student. Serah and her friends cheered the loudest and though people knew me as a serious person, I couldn't help but smile. But since I didn't go to school anymore, it looked like Serah would have no one to walk to school with. Yet, neither of us worried because on the first day of her junior year, I walked her to school and then went straight for the Guardian Corps recruitment office.

I walked her to school but the Guardian Corps training was an all-day program. Serah laughed and said if she could at least walk to school with me, it was okay that I didn't walk with her from school to home. I always came home to Serah's delicious cooking and sometimes her friends came over. She was able to laugh again and we no longer slept in the same bed. We missed our parents but we had begun to enjoy life again.

I raced up the ranks in the Guardian Corps and the general always told me how much my dad would be proud of me. One day, I came home with good news; I had received the gun-blade, a weapon only entrusted to the higher ranked guardians. Around the same time, Serah was going to graduate high school as well. I took a day off, something I rarely did, so that I could see my little sister in her cap and gown. After that, I didn't see much of her.

I was always on duty, punctual and precise; the general said I was a model soldier. Even though I was always working, I knew what Serah was doing. Sometimes, when I was on guard duty, she would see me and no matter who she was with, she came over to say hi to her older sister. I began to come home late every night and Serah would be asleep but she never forgot to cook dinner for me.

Then came along NORA; I thought it was a stupid little group and though I didn't want her to, Serah began running around with them. And what did that guy, Snow, mean that NORA just couldn't hold together under the corps? I thought to myself that NORA and the Guardian Corps were similar and that we had the same goals, except we had order and NORA was just a bunch of kids running around. I also didn't realize that I had cracked my knuckles when I told him not to get involved with Serah.

He started calling me 'sis' and I always responded angrily that I was not his 'sis'. I couldn't tell Serah what to do; she may have a more care-free attitude than I did but just like me, she was stubborn, so I didn't tell her anything. I could only hope that she would move on to someone sensible in the future. He and NORA were a hindrance to me. You could hardly call them an organization; they were a bunch of kids trying to act cool.

One day I was due for duty at the mall but I decided to walk around the area an hour before my shift. I ended up window shopping, looking at the nice jewelry on display and some clothing. Looking down at my uniform, I decided maybe it wouldn't hurt to buy new clothes. Soon, I found a man selling baby chocobos. He told me the shipment came in yesterday afternoon and I watched as a little boy bought the last one with a huge smile on his face. His mother smiled and told him that would be a long lasting memory for their vacation.

That was when I realized that I hadn't really spent time with Serah lately. A vacation would be nice; I could pull all my off days together, which I had plenty of, and take her somewhere nice. My birthday was coming up that weekend as well so it could be a birthday present for me. I had saved a lot of money from work so that wouldn't be a problem.

The next day, I saw Serah for a brief moment when she swept out the door before me. She had some sort of armband on her upper arm but I shook it off thinking it was just a new fashion statement from NORA. I only had a late evening shift that day so I went to the travel agency to pick out a vacation spot before work. When the stars came out, I heard the sound of fireworks exploding outside.

I stepped outside; already in my uniform and looked up. I scoffed at the sight of the bright colors exploding. They said if you made a wish on them, it would come true. Kids rushed forward to look at the lights and clasped their hands together, wishing for whatever they wanted. Then I saw Serah and Snow on his aero motorbike drifting around the bubble in which the fireworks popped and fizzled. In disapproval, I shook my head then turned to my men and gave out their orders.

I slammed my hands on the table, seething with rage and all I saw was red. Married?! And she had made up some bullshit about being a l'cie. All the feelings that I had against her relationship with Snow exploded. Angrily, I told her that if she was a l'cie, it didn't matter if she was family, I would have to dispose of her. She ran away, crying and Snow tried to reason with me. Once again, I slammed my hands on the table and yelled that I was not his sister and to get out of my house.

She was gone and I feared it was my fault. I was supposed to be on duty at the outskirts of town but I didn't care. I went to the train station where they took the l'cie to be purged. When I walked up to the commander there, he told me soldiers were exempted. I took out the gun-blade that was so glorified and thrust it at him, telling him that I quit. He took the gun-blade in surprise as I stalked off with a scowl on my face to the end of the line for the l'cie to board.

Serah was gone; she was a l'cie and I had lost sight of my family, the only one I had left. How could I, as the older sister, who had sworn to protect her, just coldly tell her sibling she would have to dispose of her? I became a soldier to protect her, not to kill her. My name is Claire Farron, also known as Lightning; and it was time for me to strike.


End file.
